Strictly Ballroom

1. Strictly Ballroom
The 1992 film Strictly Ballroom directed by Baz Luhrmann is able to exhibit a substantial range of
film techniques to enhance and exemplify the progression of the plotline. The film's use of lighting,
camera techniques and sound provides the ability to enrich essential elements of the storyline.
Lighting within the film is used as a mechanism to represent an ambition that lingers within Scott,
repressed by a higher authority. The films use of Camera Placement symbolizes a sense of
constraint, which ultimately leads to defiance. Sound is utilized within the film to embody Scott's
feelings of liberation, as he dances his own steps. Though each technique displays a variation in
meaning, there is a theme of self–expression and its ability to provide...show more content...
During the scene in which Barry Fife confronts Scott about his fathers 'past', there is an initial
close–up of Scott as he finds out about his father, which shows shock and disbelief written upon his
face, and shows a sense of repression where the camera is entirely upon Scott. This mirrors with the
context of the film, as Barry is confronting Scott with a doctored truth that leaves him confined
between a choice of self–happiness and the felicity of another. A crucial shot within this scene is a
one of Barry Fife at the forefront of the camera, whereas Scott is placed in the shadow behind him.
This embodies not only a sense of entombment that Scott must face with powers beyond his control
but also depicts Barry Fife's selfishness due to his manipulative ways that casts others in the
background, and leaves them trailing in his wake. As Scott and Fran dance their own steps at the
Pan Pacific championships, the camera techniques used within the scene are able to show the
liberation felt by Scott as he dances his own steps. The scene starts off in slow motion as Scott
slides in, and the focus is placed upon him which represents a moment of opportunity that allows
Scott to shine through the voice of his steps. As Scott and Fran dance, the background is faded and
the focus is entirely on them, symbolising that there has been no
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